The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    The growth prospects in India are terrific: Inga Beale, Lloyds Reinsurance

    Synopsis

    “We are in India because we are seeing the absolute need to be local.”

    Watch: Lloyd's of London finally sets up shop in India
    Talking to ET Now, Inga Beale, CEO, Lloyds Reinsurance, says currently on an annual basis, we have business revenues of about $220 million in India.

    Edited excerpts:

    It is going to be exciting times after a lot of discussions and debates. Finally, you are in India. What is going to be the big game plan and roadmap for Indian markets?
    Yes, it took us 20 years but we had lots of patience and the opportunity is worth every day we have to wait. I am here only for a short time. I myself have been excited about meeting the people and learning about the insurance market. We find the growth prospects here are terrific. Whether the growth in insurance line is driven by government action or whether it is just natural growth based on the fact that the economy is growing, where else in the world could we go and see non-life insurance premium growth in the double digits and you have forecast something like 12% to 15% growth. It is a fantastic opportunity and that is the way we see India at the moment.

    You have a global format when it comes to the way you do your businesses. Would it be same or would you tweak that when it comes to the Indian market because of the various challenges? In India, what is going to be your business roadmap from a short to medium term perspective?
    Traditionally, Lloyds was always doing everything from London. So, that was the heart of the market. What we are seeing now is the absolute need to be local. Hence, we have opened up our platform here, we are onshore. We need to be closer to our customer base, we need to have people working within the market where we are doing business. That is why we are very keen on having this onshore platform here.

    Unlock Leadership Excellence with a Range of CXO Courses

    Offering CollegeCourseWebsite
    IIM KozhikodeIIMK Chief Product Officer ProgrammeVisit
    IIM LucknowIIML Chief Operations Officer ProgrammeVisit
    Indian School of BusinessISB Chief Digital OfficerVisit

    The benefit for us is that we can build those trusted relationships, we can be part of an exciting market that is growing and that is what our customers are wanting. They do not want remote long distance relationships and our business is based on trust. We are ensuring insurance companies here in India. We are reinsurers and that means big contracts, big promises to pay for the future.

    If things go wrong, you need trusted relationships. There is no better way to build those than face-to-face meetings and that is what we are hoping to get out of our platform here. Many other markets we just do from London and we do not get out.

    It is very interesting. As you are rightly saying, the whole logic is we are setting up branch in India. When it comes to India, what is going to be your business targets, perhaps from a three to five years’ perspective, now that you have set a shop in India?
    Well we have been doing business with Indian companies for many, many decades. This relationship goes back a long time. Currently on an annual basis, we have business revenues of about $220 million. Now if I can see growth on that in excess of the growth in insurance in the Indian market, then I would be very, very happy. However, because we run a market, we basically provide the framework and the ability for different syndicates to come and open up in India. If more and more syndicates chose to open up, we might easily exceed that insurance growth you are seeing in India. But I would be happy if we just exceeded or even met that growth.





    (What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today.

    Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price

    ...more


    (What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today.

    Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price

    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in